


Survival of the Fittest

by KimiMeagan



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Every Path Lives, Blight Cure, Brosca is Trans, Childhood Friends, Cousland is not a Warden, Dwarf Gender Concepts, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Epic Friendship, Fereldan Culture and Customs, Fifth Blight, Formerly Tranquil Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting to Know Each Other, Grey Warden Secrets, Grey Wardens, Made For Each Other, Mahariel is Mute, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Period-Typical Racism, Politics, Rite of Tranquility, Sign Language, Surana is Tranquil, The Blight (Dragon Age), Tranquil Cure, Trans Character, Transitioning, mute warden
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 09:36:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13784733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KimiMeagan/pseuds/KimiMeagan
Summary: They were recruited, all of them, for reasons that differed as much as they themselves did from one another. One was dying, another was banished; someone different was running from danger while someone else had walked into it head first.One could only speak with their hands. One was not what they appeared to be.The Blight brought them together, through blood not only their own, and it was through the Blight that they would discover just which of them was made of steel... and which was made of feathers.





	Survival of the Fittest

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so... this is under a serious revamp right now. I had started this back when I had only ever played Origins and Awakening (since those were the only two out at the time)... so the plot, mostly, is going through a VERY SERIOUS overhaul. But the above tags are what I have so far and at this current point in time. They ARE liable to change but that's what it is thus far. I'm not sure whether I should keep it going or not but I figured I'd let everyone read it first before too much of it changed.
> 
> Not that the beginning bits will much but still.

**Faren Brosca**

He had won, fair and square, which was rather _odd_ – all things considered – since he had won the Proving in Orzammar. His helmet had come off and he was arrested. No one else had found his victory as satisfying as he did, save for Leske, Rica, and the _honored_ Grey Warden that had witnessed the event. Sodding nobles wanted to cry because some casteless dwarf from Dust Town had won their little Proving.

Beraht wanted his head, the duster-born nug-bastard. He figured it would've happened eventually. The Assembly would call for it first, a great dishonor and a greater disgrace to each dwarf he had defeated. He had _won_ – and yet he _hadn't_. The guards were in front of him and Leske, and he knew all too well that if Beraht somehow managed to get a hand on them that neither one would enjoy their deaths. It wouldn't be quick and it _certainly_ wouldn't be painless. Maybe he'd try to give them both to Jarvia, all trussed up and tied to chairs. It would make things easier for her.

He hoped Rica's noble lover was a good one – it was the only thing he could hope for now. He hoped the Stone would look after her – it was something he doubted _very_ highly he'd be able to do for much longer. And he hoped, even more, that if he made it out of there alive, though he didn't think he would, that he _never_ had to listen to Leske moan about what they had done in the cell across from him – it was something he hated hearing to begin with and it only ever gave him headaches.

_Like now._

 

**Lyna Mahariel**

Gasping, Lyna's back arched as she felt the taint spreading; seeping further and further into her blood. The clan kept a distance from her, the only ones that had even crept close enough to examine her – outside of the pair of Grey Wardens present – were Keeper Marethari, Merrill, and Ashalle. And they _only_ allowed Ashalle because of their relation. Ashalle had sung to her, briefly, before Lyna was seized in a fit that had her back arching off the cot they had rested her on; her gasps of pain causing Merrill to usher Ashalle out of the tent as Keeper Marethari and the Wardens went about stabilizing Lyna's condition.

She felt the taint in her blood, she could feel its _burn_ and its _chill_ in equal measures running up and down her spine – it stung her fingertips and shot through her toes – and Lyna could only gasp as they worked magic and poultices into her in an attempt to keep her alive.

She slipped in and out of consciousness, the Fade seeming real one moment and a fleeting memory the next. Lyna would be listening to the Wardens speak with Keeper Marethari at one point then feeling Ashalle pat a cool wet cloth across her forehead in silence the next. The Wardens came and went over the course of time – how much, she could only guess – but Lyna could feel the darkspawn taint _spreading_ ; even if they had slowed it considerably. They were talking of her – of what to do with her, of whether or not she would live – and it got Lyna thinking through all the pain and tears.

Was it worth living? Was this life, this world, worth living in? The pain made her question... and her wishes whispered back:

_**Yes.** She wanted to live._

 

**Daylen Amell**

Blood magic had always been something Daylen had only ever heard of in his lessons and lectures. Seeing Jowan – a close friend, his _only_ friend – use it in an attempt to free himself from the Circle had Daylen's blood boiling for reasons beyond magic. Lily, the _naive_ little Chantry Sister, claimed to know nothing but Daylen didn't believe her. Didn't believe the situation. Didn't believe what had happened. He had _trusted_ the First Enchanter with the idea Jowan had of escaping, trusted that he would be able to protect him from any harsh punishments that the templars would give his friend.

And he didn't want to believe that the First Enchanter was _clueless_ to Jowan's abilities or his near-Tranquil status.

Daylen met the Knight-Commander's gaze, his jaw set and his eyes hard, and _dared_ the templar to breathe a word of his involvement. Grey Wardens had come running the moment the excitement had ended – just after it had begun, really – and Daylen turned his hard gaze towards them next. He could feel the magic building in his finger tips, though he tried to snuff it out, and it was the betrayal – _the pure treachery_ – he felt coursing through his veins that had him glaring at the group of heroes.

He could not be overjoyed by their presence – he had just lost far too much to be overjoyed by anything.

 

**Neria Surana**

It had been near seven months since the last time she had seen another mage. And that was only if her days were added up correctly and she hadn't slept through one by mistake and missed it... or she had slipped into the Fade for far longer than intended. She missed being around others that knew what she was capable of and weren't scared of her.

She had only wanted to see the sun rise... she wanted to feel the warmth it would shine down on them and have it seep into her very bones. She wanted, quite simply, to be _free_.

Magic was a serious damper on that dream. She wasn't alone in her dream, _not entirely_ , but she was right then. Her thoughts were her only company. They – _the templars_ – had spoken of sending her to Aeonar, the mage prison, but Irving had defended her as he always had. As he had always defended her and Anders both. There were more movements outside her cell's walls than there normally were that day, _of all days_ , and Neria leaned away from the door but watched it closely.

If they decided to finally make her Tranquil, she would not make it easy for them.

She would rather be thrust into the _Void_ than have her magic forcefully stripped from her and to turn into an emotionless doll for all to do with as they pleased...

She would die before they took her life from her.

 

**Duran Aeducan**

The betrayal took his breath away; it crawled its way into Duran's chest and clenched his heart in its cold, icy, claws. His brother – his own flesh and blood – betrayed him for the throne – for a mere _position_. He framed him for the death of their brother, the _true_ heir to the throne, Trian. Duran knew it would only be a matter of time before Orzammar became a war-zone. Harrowmont wouldn't stand for Bhelen to take the throne; neither would their father – the great King Endrin. Duran thought back to the last he had seen of Gorim – his Second, his companion, his _friend_ – and readied his daggers at the sight of several darkspawn at the turn of the tunnel before him.

The Grey Wardens were at the end and he had to get to them. He would die in the tunnels – either by the darkspawn, their taint, or even starvation – if he did not find them. They were his way out and he was determined to become their newest recruit. He had seen the Wardens' gaze sweep over his family more than once and Duran _knew_ his name alone would give him consideration for the role, if not a guaranteed place in their order. Darkspawn needed beheading and Grey Wardens needed recruiting. Who would better fit the role of both than an _Aeducan_?

Duran squared his shoulders and ran straight towards the darkspawn blocking his path, hearing their screeches as he raised his daggers; aiming for their throats and hearts. He had no need to fear them; death was always the only thing he had to look forward to in the end. Their deaths, however, would come _far sooner_ than his.

 

**Kallian Tabris**

The horror Kallian felt was reflected in the eyes of her dear cousin Soris. She had long since steeled herself to the events going on around her, the things she had seen in the Arl's estate had shaken her – and not for the better. It had hardened her to the reality of life that her mother's death hadn't been able to fully accomplish. Her fiance dead, her eldest cousin raped; she felt cold and didn't bother attempting to change it. The guards had come, disregarding the Grey Wardens gathered – an elven woman leading them – standing nearby and had demanded to know what had happened.

The Arl's estate was _covered_ in blood, her cousin's as well as the Arl's son's, and someone needed to answer for it all before things got out of hand. The Wardens had opted to stay out of the fighting – claiming the need to remain a _neutral_ party – but had secretly aided Soris and herself, for which she was thankful for.

She took on all the blame, she wouldn't end Soris' life along with her own, and had stepped forward to allow the guards to clap her in irons. The metal almost _warm_ against her wrists, as cold as she felt. She would embrace whatever punishment they tossed her way – even if it was possibly _death_ – now that she had defended her family and knew they were safe.

 

**Aedan & Elissa Cousland**

Mather and Haelia whimpered in unison after Aedan and Elissa had finally found their father, their mother – Eleanor – had cried out in fright at the state he was in. Bloodied and nearly white from the blood-loss, Teryn Bryce Cousland looked like he had seen the war in the south and had barely made it through. Aedan and Elissa knelt around their parents, their hands entwined and laced together, the leather of their gloves creaking as they molded against each other; the youngest children of the Cousland line shook as the adrenaline from the fighting started to wear off.

They could still hear the fighting going on in the distance – the battle cries, roars of rage, and shouts of pain taking up the bigger parts of the noise – and Elissa would tense each time they heard a clang of steel-on-steel that would seem too close for comfort. Bryce told them he loved them, told them that he doubted he would be able to run with them, and their mother turned her eyes towards them and Aedan's fingers crushed Elissa's as the realization of what they had planned hit both Cousland children.

_They wanted them to run..._ and they weren't going to follow. A Warden walked into the room then, barely gaining the attention of either sibling, and Bryce begged the man – an older Free Marcher with pale skin – to get them all to safety. Elissa reached out and dragged Haelia closer by her collar to hug her tightly – Haelia whimpered as she pushed back against her. Aedan copied the actions to his Mabari – Mather – and twisted his fingers in the collar he wore; focusing on the pain in his hand instead of the pain in his heart.


End file.
